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Seminole County hopes passes ordinance to limit bear contact

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SANFORD, Fla. - Seminole county officials passed pass a trash-can ordinance that they hope cuts down on bear encounters in an Orlando suburb.

Seminole County commissioners on Tuesday approved an ordinance requiring residents living west of Interstate 4 to have trash cans with secured tops in order to make them less attractive to bears.

Trash cans containing food waste would have to be kept inside and would only be allowed to be taken out at 5 a .m. on pick-up days.

Violators of the ordinance would face a $100 fine per day for every offense.

Seminole County has had three bear attacks in the past two years.

The measure comes several weeks after the state's first controversial bear hunt in more than two decades where hunters killed roughly 300 bears in two days.